Albany 2011: The 17th Conversation will be held in June 14-18 2011 at the State Univ. of New York at Albany. The Keynote evening lecture will be delivered by Nobel Laureate Jack Szostak, Harvard, on the laboratory synthesis of self-replicating systems and the origin of life. The Conversation will cover the following areas of structural biology: Proteins: What is New, Newer and Newest? Proteins: Allostery, Cooperativity and Motion;Intrinsically Disordered Proteins and Neurodegeneration;Protein Evolution;Breakthroughs in Molecular Simulations;Evolution: Prebiotic Synthesis;Chromosomes - Landscape of the Cell Nucleus;Artificial DNA;DNA Nanotechnology;DNA-Protein Interactions;Cis-Regulatory Modules;DNA Damage and Repairs;Transcription-Replication Collisions. In addition there will be celebration of David Beveridge, a member of the Organizing Cmte since 1979. The subjects will be covered by invited lectures and poster discussion papers. There will be a total of 83 lectures, 55 by senior scientists and 28 by young researchers. Lectures by young researchers (graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and starting faculty) will be based on selection from abstracts submitted for poster presentation. 5.5 hours of the symposium time will be left vacant until abstracts for posters are received so that a significant number of lectures can be selected from the abstracts. The number of posters presented will be over 200. Out of a total of 83 talks, a minimum of 30 will be delivered by female scientists. The program will admit some 400 scientists from over 20 Nations. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Sessions such as Intrinsically Disordered Proteins and Neurodegeneration;DNA Damage and Repairs;Cis-Regulatory Modules;Chromosomes - Landscape of the Cell Nucleus;and DNA- Protein Interactions deal directly with molecular diseases, and how one devises approaches to cure and manage them. The remaining topics look at advances in fundamental areas of medical biochemistry, and progress here will have profound impact on the way we will manage disease, including aging and cancer, in the future.